Meditation.

[Kai]

There is a Buddhist meditation where you concentrate on death and destruction.  I cant remember exactly what it is called though.

It's a type of contemplative meditation. The most often one is meditation on the series of decay that corpses go through, from just after death to where the bones turn to dust, and all the foulness in between. The purpose is to remove attachment to the body, and realize its impermanence.

[Ob_Portu]

Yeah I've tried most of those meditations and agree on the usefulness of them..

Just wondering if others found the same.

I find myself more open and loving, compassionate, afterwards.

That could just be a result of being calmer though.

[Telarus]

The effects of Western Society:

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/07/05/psychological-resear.html

Psychological research and WEIRD nations
David Pescovitz at 12:20 PM Monday, Jul 5, 2010

A new University of British Columbia psychological study used a new acronym to help explain why results from behavioral studies on people in Western nations don't usually represent the rest of the world. It's because we're WEIRD ("Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic.") The research is in the scientific journals Nature and Behavioral and Brain Sciences. From the UBC:

"The foundations of human psychology and behavior have been built almost exclusively on research conducted on subjects from WEIRD societies," says UBC Psychology and Economics Prof. Joe Henrich, who led the study with UBC co-authors Prof. Steven Heine and Prof. Ara Norenzayan. "While students from Western nations are a convenient, low-cost data pool, our findings suggest that they are also among the least representative populations one could find for generalizing about humans."

The study, which reviews the comparative database of research from across the behavioural sciences, finds that subjects from WEIRD societies are more individualistic, analytic, concerned with fairness, existentially anxious and less conforming and [less] attentive to context compared to those from non-WEIRD societies.

[SuperNull]

There are some long-term unfortunate side effects though. Once you can distance yourself form your own emotions and ego-centric thinking well enough, you begin to see what a thoughtless and instinct-driven monkey everyone is, including yourself.
This kind of makes it hard to to be too bothered about anything. You lose your passions.

if this was your experience, and you felt it was unfortunate, it sounds more like a problem with you, than as a long-term side effect of meditation.

i might suggest you'd either deal with those problems through meditation, or in some other way.

and otherwise, boo hoo.

I'm not complaining. Stuff is as it is.
Just pointing out that if you become more calm and observant you also become less involved and distant.
If people know and love as a raging asshole, then being meditative will have some social consequences

[Placid Dingo]

There are some long-term unfortunate side effects though. Once you can distance yourself form your own emotions and ego-centric thinking well enough, you begin to see what a thoughtless and instinct-driven monkey everyone is, including yourself.
This kind of makes it hard to to be too bothered about anything. You lose your passions.

if this was your experience, and you felt it was unfortunate, it sounds more like a problem with you, than as a long-term side effect of meditation.

i might suggest you'd either deal with those problems through meditation, or in some other way.

and otherwise, boo hoo.

I'm not complaining. Stuff is as it is.
Just pointing out that if you become more calm and observant you also become less involved and distant.
If people know and love as a raging asshole, then being meditative will have some social consequences

I suspect if you don't know how to be passionate in a manner that isn't angry, this may be the case for a while. I think it's worthwhile to explore different avenues for continuing your passion, while being more calm and better adjusted, rather that rejecting the whole thing as counterproductive.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

This could be one of the most spoiled, self-indulgent and oddly smug conversations ever to take place on the internet.

[Cramulus]

 ^
|
This could be one of the most spoiled, self-indulgent and oddly smug posts ever to take place on the internet.

[AFK]

"Hearing this, the man was enlightened"

[AFK]

Useful? Not useful?

Useful, depending on your goal. 

Examples, descriptions..

Go for a walk somewhere quiet.  Utilize any hiking trails, state parks, etc. you may have in the area.  Just hang out in nature for an hour or so.  Maybe take a pad of paper along if you like to write or draw.  Or maybe an instrument you play. 

If you can, go without a cell phone or other wireless/technological device.  The more detached you are from the hustle and bustle of the "real world" the better.  If you must take one, turn it off so it doesn't ring. 

A little solitude amongst the quiet of nature can be very therapeutic.  Plus, the physical exercise will help as well. 

[Jasper]

"Hearing this, the man was enlightened"

Around here, the traditional ending to any proper koan should be

"Upon hearing this, the man decided to start huffing nail polish."